Immigration

Was an ICE van deliberately set on fire during operations in Philadelphia? No, that's not true: A Homeland Security/ICE vehicle caught fire on the morning of February 18, 2025 in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Fire Department extinguished the fire. A spokesperson told Lead Stories the fire marshal interviewed the van's driver, determining the fire was accidental. The video of a burning…

Is there evidence the Coca-Cola Company called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on their own workers in Texas and did several of them get deported as a result? No, that's not true: Online posts and videos making this claim lack details about the concrete place and time this supposedly happened and they offer up differing versions of events. A…

Did Elon Musk say Italians should stay in Italy and the Japanese should stay in Japan? No, that's not true: While speaking at a right-wing political event in December 2023, the tech billionaire argued that countries shouldn't rely on immigration to maintain their populations. Instead, he suggested that governments should promote higher birth rates and offer incentives for families to…

Does an authentic photo show an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement restraining a distressed little girl? No, that's not true: This image is AI generated. Hive, an AI-generated image detection service determined with 97.4 percent confidence the image was "highly likely" to be AI generated. Another service, Sightengine, returned the same reading with a 97 percent confidence score. The…

Was Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde removed from the National Cathedral by the Episcopal Archdiocese of Washington after she angered newly elected President Donald Trump during the inaugural prayer service? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the Washington National Cathedral told Lead Stories that Budde "very much remains the Episcopal Bishop of Washington." This story came from a self-described satirical…

Did ICE announce it was pausing a hotline to report undocumented immigrants because 90 percent of the calls were people reporting Elon Musk? No, that's not true: That claim originated on a satirical X account named "The Halfway Post." The ICE website still lists the number 1-866-DHS-2-ICE to "report suspicious activity," and it currently shows no statements or news releases…

Does a video show immigrationt officers carrying out enforcement on Miami Beach in January 2025? No, that's not true: This footage is of Hyundai's 2024 air-and-sea show on Miami Beach. While the official website for the 2025 show promotes Customs and Border Patrol and their "exercise" for the show on Memorial Day Weekend, there is no evidence that they will…

Does a photo genuinely show a man in a "Latinos for Trump 2024" shirt being taken away by agents wearing "POLICE ICE" labels on their backs? No, that's not true: The photo is based on an original from 2018, and several elements in the picture have been added or edited. The logo on the man's shirt was not present in…

Did President Donald Trump call actress Selena Gomez "the third amigo" in a Truth Social post? No, that's not true: There was no such post on the social media platform Truth Social. A search of Google News brought up no news reports confirming the post ever existed and in fact showed several articles that explained it was fake. The claim…

Did President Trump redirect $2 billion meant for welfare programs for undocumented immigrants to the residents of North Carolina during the first week of his second term in 2025? No, that's not true: This claim is from a self-described satirical source. The Facebook page where the claim appeared included a bio that read, in part, "Nothing on this page is…